U.S. advises citizens not to travel to Afghanistan

Blanca Howell |Thursday, January 11, 2018

US State Department overhauls travel advisory system

The Department advises that USA citizens do not travel to these countries, and advise to leave as soon as it is safe to do so. The Department of State advises that US citizens not travel to the country or leave as soon as it is safe to do so.

Level 4 - Do Not Travel: This is the highest advisory level, warning of "greater likelihood of life-threatening risks".

New rankings replace the vague and often confusing system of issuing "travel alerts" and "travel warnings".

Placing India on Level 2, the US State Department identified "crime and terrorism" for Americans to exercise increased caution.

Russian Federation is listed as a Level 3 country, to which travel should be reconsidered, according to the State Department.

The advisory informs American citizens that the United States government has limited ability to provide emergency services to them in Pakistan due to the security environment.

Armenia is included in the first category.

The new advisory issued today by the US Government cautions American tourists from traveling to India asking its citizens to "exercise increased caution" due to "crime and terrorism" prevailing in India.

United States citizens are advised not to travel to the eastern DRC and Kasai provinces under the new system, which sometimes has separate, higher tier rankings for particular regions within a country.

On January 10, 2018, the Department of State launched improvements to how we share information with USA travelers.

What were previously referred to as "warnings" and "alerts" are being re-classified as "advisories", accompanied by a color and number-based system with detailed descriptions on why an advisory has been issued.

The different levels are determined by several factors including crime, civil unrest and health risks.

N - Natural Disaster: A natural disaster, or its aftermath, poses danger. The figure, as the general director indicated, represents a 217.4 percent growth over the previous year and despite the strengthening of the policies that support the blockade that Washington has maintained against Havana since 1962. Alerts will inform US citizens of specific safety and security concerns in a country, such as demonstrations, crime trends, and weather events.

The new advisory has come days after the United States chose to cut down $225 million military aid to the country. Level four countries include Iraq, Iran, and Libya.

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